Signature Rose slide now permanently remembered with statue

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Aside from the Major League record 4,256 hits and running to first base after a walk, if there was one thing that signified why Pete Rose was called "Charlie Hustle," it was his headfirst slide. Now that image is officially memorialized in the form of a bronze statue outside Great American Ball Park.

The statue was unveiled on Saturday afternoon on the Crosley Terrace outside the main gates with Rose and numerous other members of the "Big Red Machine" on hand for the ceremony, including Baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez.

The Rose statue is the eighth at Great American Ball Park - all sculpted by local artist Tom Tsuchiya. The Rose statue joins those commemorating Joe Nuxhall, Frank Robinson, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Kluszewski, Bench, Morgan and Perez. Tsuchiya worked with the Cincinnati Reds, the Reds Hall of Fame and Rose to create the sculpture.